Carlos Alonso has been living in Omsk for more than 10 years. He has two children and a Russian wife, Olga. The Cuban says that meeting her was the best thing that ever happened to him. He studied in Havana, his homeland, to become a military mechanical engineer. At that time, Cuba had signed a contract with Russia for the supply of T-72 tanks. In October 2010, he and eight other top cadets went to study at the Omsk Auto Armored Engineering Institute. Carlos recalls the terrible cold that greeted him in Siberia. On his first morning in Russia, it snowed. "Against an all-white background stood white trees with black spots. Birches. It was so beautiful! It moved me so much that I made a mental note: this was the day I started loving Russia." He didn’t become a soldier, but instead, he became a barber, and for the past 7 years, he has been trimming beards for the people of Omsk. He goes to the banya, loves New Year’s, and enjoys “herring under a fur coat”!